KAMPALA- Victoria University had on Monday, January 17 signed letters of intent to partner with some 16 Universities in Gujarat, India, which will see close academic collaboration.
The delegation from India comprised of representatives from 16 various institutions and agreed to harness the relationship to foster research, exchange programs, internships and sponsorships among others.
According to Prof. Krishna Sharma, the Vice-Chancellor Victoria University, Kampala, the collaboration will focus on Innovations, joint research and sharing of resources.
“We also have Partnership with two universities and we will sign a Memorandum of Understanding which will be about our students, Alumni and staff to explore opportunities in joint research, publications and organisation of conferences, seminars, symposiums and other events,” he said.
Prof. Krishna added that the partnership will help because the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) just noted that the country lacks enough PhD staffs and professors to bridge the academia human resource gap.
“We invite students from all over the world and the main reason is that we are looking for diversity and internationalization in education so that mutual benefits are attained.
It improves the quality of education through culture, different education pools of intellectuals under one domain,” said Anju Sharma, Principal secretary IAS, department of education at Gujarat government, India.
Ms Sharna noted that there are many higher institutions of learning coming up in Uganda but still many are struggling in areas of research, digital technology among others in which they need to fill the gap.
Gujarat is one of the western costal states in India with over 70 universities with literacy levels above 78.03 percent and most affordable education packages.